


Beacon

by Rejah



Category: The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (TV)
Genre: Depression, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-28
Updated: 2019-09-28
Packaged: 2020-10-29 21:44:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20803460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rejah/pseuds/Rejah
Summary: Rian tends to Deet while the power of the Darkening consumes her. Deet isn't sure she will ever be the same again.





	Beacon

**Author's Note:**

> I've just recently discovered the Dark Crystal series and instantly fell in love with it. I especially fell for Rian and Deet, their chemistry is sooo good <3

Death was quiet.

Deet’s thoughts were covered in molasses, the thick liquid of the Darkening gouging its way through her veins. She was lying somewhere. She wasn’t sure where exactly, but it didn’t seem too important. Nothing did, really. Her thoughts were swimming, gasping for air and then sinking again in an endless circle, a battle that she was slowly losing.

Death felt cold, too. She was shivering, something she wasn’t very familiar with from her life in the Grottan caves. It had always felt warm there. Still, a fire was burning in her, but it wasn’t warming so much as it was scalding her from the inside, flames licking at her from the inside.

She whimpered.

There it was again. Something cool against her head. A gentle brush through her hair. Someone was lifting her up, just enough that she could sip from the water held against her lips. Someone was helping her. For what? She didn’t know. She would die. That was a simple fact. She didn’t even feel sad. What she had done-

“Shh, Deet.” She was laid down again, gently, as if a too harsh motion would snap her in two like the twigs of a young tree. “It’s alright. Just rest while I keep watch over you.”

No. It wasn’t alright. She tried to open her eyes, but the sliver of light meeting her eyes hurt. Someone laid a hand over her eyes.

“Don’t. You’ll hurt yourself.”

Deet swallowed around the painful lump in her throat. When she spoke, it felt like she did so for the first time in an eternity, stumbling like a childling learning to walk.

“Who … who are you?” she rasped. She didn’t recognize her voice.

“Huh …” The hand stroked her forehead and then slipped into her hair. “You don’t know. It’s me, Rian.”

Rian. Something sparked in her, bright and painful. Tears stung her eyes.

She didn’t want to die.

* * *

Deet had lived her entire life in the Grottan caves, grew up in a loving family, had a wide circle of friends who cherished her for her friendly and easy-going nature, and had tended to the gentle Nurlocs. She had loved her life and would have been happy if she had spent it down in the caves.

All of that was in the past.

That was the thought in her mind as she slowly woke up. She twitched, muscles restless from her long slumber, and tried to open her eyes. The light was dim, but it still hurt her eyes as she blinked rapidly to get rid of the crusty feeling. She was lying on a bed. A vast amount of pillows was stuffed around her and she was bundled up in a soft blanket which was stuffed underneath her body. The walls around the small room were made out of wood and the small germlings sprouting out of them indicated that she was inside a tree. She moved her head slightly and caught sight of the clutter strewn around the rest of the room. There were pots and plates, filigrane vials and dried herbs and clothes lying haphazardly on every surface.

The heat beneath the blanket grew stifling, so she began to wriggle out of it. The task was more monumental than she had anticipated and soon, sweat dotted her brow and she grew frustrated.

“Oh, you’re awake.”

Deet flinched. She hadn’t seen anyone else in the room, but apparently she hadn’t been alone the whole time. Someone approached her. Her neck prickled in anticipation - in fear she couldn’t place.

It was Rian.

His hair was held back in a simple ponytail, his fringe covering parts of his eyes. He seemed different, somehow. She breathed a sigh of relief. He was still there.

From the corner of her eyes she saw him move his hand, but suddenly he halted and let it fall down to his sides once more. “Hm …” He glanced sideways, then quickly caught her eyes again. “How are you?”

For some reason, that wasn’t the question she had expected. She didn’t know what to say. She still hurt, but it wasn’t a feeling she could place much less express to him in words. There was a wrongness in her body. Something that left her helpless, stringless in an universe where she had lost her place. She was catapulting through a vast void with no chance of ever finding hold again.

She had a feeling that wasn’t what he wanted to hear.

So she tried a smile and said, “I’m feeling better.”

She hadn’t realized the tenseness around his eyes until some of it lessened upon her words.

“I’m glad,” he murmured and tucked the blanket closer around her shoulders. Deet didn’t move. “How about you drink something? You must be thirsty.”

She nodded and he got a cup of water and helped her drink it. Like the first rain falling on the desert, it helped with the soreness of her throat.

“How long …?”

“Nearly a week,” Rian responded. He avoided looking at her. With a start, she remembered what the Darkening had done to her face and burrowed deeper into the blanket. She didn’t want him to see her like that. She was corrupted. Rian opened his mouth as if he wanted to say more, but then closed it. Deet wanted to know what it was, but kept quiet. Everything seemed to be too much of an effort. With a quiet groan, Rian got up from where he had been settled on the bed. “I’ll let you sleep.”

“No!” Deet grasped the hem of his shirt. Her vehemence surprised both of them. “Please,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper, “stay with me.”

“Hm … are you sure? I wouldn’t want to disturb you.”

“Please.” She said it even though she wasn’t sure about doing the right thing. Surely the Darkening couldn’t spread? If it could, it already would have affected everything around her. Still, it was a risk. She was risking Rian, a completely selfish decision on her part. It was the dark thing inside of her, a temptation she could not blend out.

He watched her out of half lidded eyes.

“Okay.” Slipping off his boots, he carefully laid down next to her. His weight was pulling at the blanket and she wished he was also lying under it, his skin touching hers.

She shivered and burrowed deeper into the blanket until only her eyes peeked out. When she glanced over at him, she found him watching her, his head propped up with one hand. Deet wished he didn’t.

* * *

The following days were painful in a whole other way.

Deet was hurting inside, too, every movement feeling like a shift in the wrong direction, the Darkening still inside her, but there was something else that felt even more painful. Rian had ushered her out of bed for the first time this morning, saying that she was well enough to move around a bit. She had avoided looking at herself in the mirror, but there was no chance to miss the purple veins still standing out in contrast to her green skin.

The Darkening hadn’t consumed her. She doubted it ever would. It was _there_, stable, the same amount as before whirling around in her. But it had changed her. She had never felt so violated, not even when she had been a prisoner of the Skeksis.

Rian treated her like a puppet made of glass. He brought her food and water, helped her eat and sat next to her and she had only drawn the line when he had wanted to help her wash up. She didn’t want him to see the veins marking the rest of her body. She knew he was afraid of her. Disgusted even. Who wouldn’t be? She was disgusted by herself. And so very, frighteningly sad.

The plants and flowers around her were blackened and wrinkled. She had tried to touch them as she had left the small house to sit on an oak log, but they had crumbled instantly. She had always loved caring for plants as well as animals, but now she only brought death.

Rian settled down next to her. Deet turned her face away from him, but he had already seen.

“Deet …” He touched her, just above her knee. “You’re crying.”

She didn’t answer. There was a barrier between them that words couldn’t heal.

She could feel his growing discomfort, but decided not to do anything about it. The old Deet would have done it, would have cared. Finally, she sensed him move.

But instead of leaving her as she had expected, he pulled her against his side and hugged her.

“It’s alright,” he murmured into her hair. No, it was not! Deet tried to shove him away, but he was much stronger than her. While she struggled against him, he held her tight and murmured the same words over and over. And finally, the silent tears she had cried were the harbinger of a dam breaking and she sobbed against his chest until her eyes hurt and her voice broke. Rian held her through all of it. He didn’t seem to mind that his clothes got wet or that he was touching her cursed skin.

Finally, she pulled away and he let her. She wiped her face with the back of her hand.

“Rian, I-” Even his name on her lips felt like blasphemy. “I don’t know what to do.”

Rian touched her again, brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. His hand was cool against her skin.

“Just be yourself.” And then, as if he had sensed the core of her fear, “I won’t go anywhere.”

She breathed a sigh of relief.

“But what about … _this_?” She gestured at herself.

“We will find a solution. Mother Aughra has promised it and I trust her.”

His words let hope swell up in her. Maybe there was a way to get rid of this corruption.

“Can you tell me what happened since we fought?” she finally asked.

And so he did. After the battle, the Gelfling had celebrated. Rian had been the only one noticing her leave and had followed her. Deet remembered that part, although hazily, and how she had met his eyes for a brief moment. A deep sadness had filled her at that time. It was still there, but slumbering, calmed after Rian had embraced her. Apparently, she had lost consciousness and he had brought her back to Stone-in-the-Wood where he had tended to her for the last week and a half. Meanwhile, the Gelfling had forged out plans and sent scouts into the deepest recesses of Thra, calling for aid. By now, every Gelfling knew that the Skeksis weren’t immortal. That there was a way to defeat them.

Mother Aughra had shut herself away in her orrery to do something with the crystal shard they had found. Rian wasn’t sure what, but his trust in her was nearly palpable.

Rian’s story sounded like hope. While sitting next to him, she could almost feel it, too.

* * *

“All clans have sworn their loyalty in the fight against the Skeksis,” Maudra Fara said while she pointed at a map in the middle of the table. Everyone had gathered around it, even Deet, who had agreed reluctantly after Rian has asked her to join them. She had wrapped herself up as much as she was able to: Her usual dress was covering the main part of her body, but she had also slung a scarf around her head and neck so that only the upper half of her face was visible. Her hands were covered in thin gloves as well. Rian had thrown her a strange look as she had dressed up, but didn’t comment.

“They still have the upper hand,” Gurjin interjected. “Only three of them died in the last battle. The Hunter because his counterpart killed himself, the General because of Rian and the Collector because Deet repelled the Emperor’s power.” Everyone turned to look at Deet who kept her gaze firmly on the map.

“You’re trying to say that all of that was because of luck?” Brea asked. She had chosen to stay in Stone-in-the-Wood while her sister Seladon was back in Har’ar to rise the rebellion. The others began to murmur. No one wanted to depend on luck alone.

“You’re forgetting that we have Mother Aughra,” Rian said. “And the shard.”

“They have an entire crystal. And the Garthim.”

Deet glanced at Rian. He hadn’t mentioned that.

She didn’t understand much of war tactics and she was already tired of discussing things that would ultimately lead to the demise of hundreds of Gelflings. She wished she hadn’t accompanied Rian, but she couldn’t go now in the middle of the meeting. Therefore, she kept herself occupied watching Rian. His eyes seemed less desperate since the first time she had woken up and his hair had a few braids in it that resembled her own. She wondered who had braided them or if he had done it himself. The green around his eyes emphasized their blue color and she found she couldn’t look away. Something about Rian had always made her halt in what she was doing and just - watch.

Suddenly, he turned his head and their eyes met. Quickly, she turned away, but he had seen her. As she glanced at him again, he smiled at her.

A long time later, the meeting finally ended and Deet hurried to leave. She was tired. Rian caught up to her shortly before she had arrived at his home. She had been mortified when he had told her it was his own home and realized that she had essentially occupied his bed for the past two weeks. Although they had gone over to sleeping in it together.

“Everything alright?” he asked her, his usual question. She nodded, her usual answer regardless of how she was feeling. He didn’t press it, but his eyes narrowed a bit as she hurried to enter the house and sat down on the bed.

“I don’t like talking about … those things,” she confessed. It made the dark energy in her stir, but she kept quiet about that. Rian laid his hand over her own which was still covered in purple veins.

“You don’t have to. I just wanted to make you feel more … included.” He watched her intently. For some reason, his gaze made her cheeks burn and her ears bent backwards.

“I would like to - to help. Just not by killing anyone.”

“Hm. I understand.” He pressed her hand.

“Do you?” she asked suddenly, but immediately regretted it. She hadn’t meant to say that. Something in her had snapped.

Rian blinked at her, slowly. As always, he kept his calm.

“Huh. Maybe not. Care to explain it to me?”

“No, I-”

She tried to take her hand back, but he wouldn’t let her. She wanted to be angry at him for that, but found she couldn’t. Rian always gave her so much, but his trust in her was misplaced.

“I just - I don’t want to-” How to phrase it into words? She gritted her teeth, half hoping that he would let the topic slide, but he just watched her silently while she struggled to explain. “I have dark thoughts. I can’t really - stop them. And each time the Darkening moves inside me and I feel sick, I wonder what happens when - if it grows stronger, if I’ll be consumed or simply … cease to exist …” She trailed off. That had been a jumble of sentences, nothing coherent at all.

“You’re scared,” Rian finally said. His thumb was stroking the back of her hand. Deet nodded, her mouth trembling. “Thank you for talking to me.”

He pulled her close, in a mirror of his actions a few days before. Together they laid down on the bed - his bed, Deet had noticed a few days before - and Rian put her head against her chest. Not much time passed until she drifted away to sleep.

* * *

The next day, Deet was told by Brea that Rian had left the village to seek Mother Aughra’s help. She was angry that he hadn’t told her he would leave and sad that he had left her alone. Of course, Brea didn’t move from her side for the entire day, almost hovering as much as Rian did usually.

“Here, I made this tea for you,” she said to Deet who was sitting on her usual place on the oak log in front of Rian’s home. “It’s made from clover leaves.”

“Thank you.” Deet accepted the cup of tea with both hands, but didn’t drink it. Her eyes were firmly fixed on the tree line.

“He will be back in three days,” Brea said. It wasn’t the first time she did so today.

“I know.”

“I’m sure Mother Aughra knows how to cure you. She understands the Crystal like no other.”

“I know.”

“Deet.” Brea sighed. “What is the real problem?”

Deet closed both her hands around the hot cup, trying to find movement between the trees. Then she finally confessed, “I miss him.”

“Oh, Deet.” Brea didn’t touch her, but it felt as if she wanted to. No one had touched her except for Rian, all of them afraid of her. Even in the circle of Gelfling plotting the war the other Gelfling had stood away from her. “Could it be …?”

“Could it be what?”

“Well, that you’re … nevermind. Maybe you should find out for yourself.” Brea grinned at her. Deet felt confused. If she meant that Deet liked Rian, well, of course she did. He was a honorable, gentle Gelfling. A bit sparing with words, but somehow she liked even that quality in him. And it wasn’t like she talked much nowadays either.

“Brea,” Deet said after a long silence, “what are the Garthim?”

Brea shuddered.

“I thought Rian told you that,” she said. “They’re … monsters. Artificial beings the Skeksis have made to fight against us.”

“Couldn’t we persuade them to switch sides? Like we did with the Arathim?”

Brea shook her head.

“No, they don’t have free will. At least it doesn’t seem so. They have no soul.”

How could any living being have no soul? Deet didn’t want to believe it, but she had come to see that there were a lot of things in the upper world that she didn’t understand. She wondered why Rian had left out such an important part of his story.

“I’m sure Rian just didn’t want to make you sad while you’re recovering,” Brea said as if she had read her thoughts.

Deet remembered what she had felt when Rian had told her what happened. She had felt hopeful, like there finally was a sliver of light after a long walk through endless tunnels. But he hadn’t told her the truth. At least not completely. He had purposefully left out the existence of such a threat. Who knew what else he had hidden from her?

The dark power in her shifted. It felt uncomfortable, as if she wasn’t by herself in her own body, and she pressed her arm against her stomach. Her lungs constricted and she swayed.

“Deet? Are you alright?” Brea’s voice was fading. Deet shook her head to get rid of the dizzy feeling and got up.

“Thank you for telling me,” she told her. “I’m going to lie down for a while.”

* * *

She didn’t stand up for the next three days.

Brea tried to make her get up, so that she may dress or at least wash herself, but she barely convinced her to eat and drink a little bit. No one else visited her the entire time. Deet knew why. She was lying face down on Rian’s bed, breathing slowly while she hugged her pillow. Part of her wanted to get up, to do something useful for the resistance. She could probably stock up the smoke bombs she had manufactured the last time.

But the other part of her was tired of war and death and the gentle Gelfling who lied to her. She was useless. She hugged the pillow tighter and burrowed her face into it.

She didn’t notice the door opening until the mattress dipped beneath her and someone was stroking her head.

The first touch in three days. Deet indulged in it for a moment, then realized who exactly had arrived.

“Go away,” she murmured and pulled the blanket over her head. She had little hope he would do what she said, stubborn as he was.

“I have something for you.” Rian’s hand stayed in her hair. Deet didn’t answer. “What’s wrong?”

“You didn’t tell me.”

“What?”

“About the Garthim.”

Rian didn’t immediately answer. Deet felt like she had jumped off a cliff but forgot how to spread her wings.

“You’re angry with me,” Rian finally said. His voice was still calm, as always. “I didn’t want to burden you with it.”

Deet peeked out of her nest of blankets and pillows and looked at him for the first time in three days. His hair had even more braids than before and he smiled at her calmly as their eyes met.

“I don’t want you to lie to me,” she said. His smile faltered. It hurt her to see it, especially knowing that she was the cause.

“Hm … I didn’t mean for it to be a lie.” He fumbled with something in his pocket. “I see now that I was wrong.”

In his hand, he held a single flower. Deet recognized it immediately; the inner parts of the flower were still glowing amidst a crown of soft blue petals.

“How did you get this?” she asked. The Sanctuary tree had died before her eyes. She inched closer, but didn’t dare to touch it.

“Mother Aughra gave it to me. She said it would heal you.”

Deet thought back to the prior times she had touched that flower. Visions of death and tragedy galloped through her mind, of bloodshed and her own face, marred with dark veins. All of it had come true.

“N-No, I can’t.”

She pushed his arm away.

“But Mother Aughra said-”

“Mother Aughra left us when we needed her! Isn’t it her fault what the Skeksis did?” She regretted it immediately when she saw the change on his face. Outward, he was still calm as a lake in the Grottan caves, but his eyes had widened to see her in a new light. She wanted to take it back.

“You know, I have my own faults,” he said, twirling the flower in his hands. “There is much to regret for me. My father’s death, Mira’s … but that didn’t stop me from going forward. I don’t ask you to do the same. I only ask you to stay the same as when we first met.”

She was aware that she was changed. The marks on her entire body spoke to that. And even before, seeing what Gelfling could do to each other had changed her so profoundly that she wasn’t sure how to unravel it.

“Did she say what it will show me?”

Rian shook his head.

Deet wanted to believe that somehow, this flower could be the cure. Nowadays, she didn’t believe in anything anymore. Her friends had either left or grown distant, not daring to touch her. Rian had been the sole exception. He had touched her hair and had made her laugh. Even now, while she was still somewhat upset with him, his calm demeanor tamed the restlessness in her.

She leaned forward and took his hand in her own. The flower grew in her direction, its light whispering to her. Then the tip of her nose touched the flower stem.

Images streamed through her mind, so fast she had barely any time to see more than a glance of them. Her fathers, her brother, eating together, a quiet evening in their home when she hadn’t known anything of the world above, her feeding the Nurlocs, a Nurloc youngling eating glowing moss from her hands, the happiness in her, the joy of flying. The first touch of warm sunlight on her skin, fine rays streaming through the cotton fabric covering her eyes. The moon, the countless stars, Hup dancing and singing with her with his bravery and good heart. Rian smiling at her for the first time. A connection being made, just the two of them.

She gasped and fell backwards. 

Rian caught her before she could hit her head on the wall. She was staring straight ahead, afterimages of the vision dancing over her eyes. But those hadn’t been visions, had they? All she had seen lied in the past. Her life. A happy one, for the most part.

She knew now what Mother Aughra had wanted her to see. What she believed to be the cure.

There had been a lot of happy memories in her life which shouldn’t be overshadowed by the horrible events of the last few weeks. But all it reminded her of was what she had lost.

Rian watched her with a mixture of worry and hope. He was trusting Mother Aughra to be the all-knowing entity the myths had always portrayed her as, but Deet wasn’t so sure about that. Even though she seemed to be immortal, she seemed to have her own failings just like everyone else.

Just like everyone else.

The Darkening inside her churned. Deet wouldn’t let it. For all the bad things in this world, by Thra, she would not allow it to conquer her. If she had lost what she’d had once, she would win it back. She would fight for it until she would be able to look at herself in the mirror again, until she would be able to face her family without fear, until Rian wouldn’t look at her with those pitying eyes.

“Deet?” He squeezed her hands. “Are you alright?”

Deet shook her head.

“No,” she said and squeezed back. “I’m not. But I will be.”

* * *

Days passed. While it had been difficult for her to make her vow, it was even more so to be true to it. Rian helped her as much as he could, but she was torn between reacting with annoyance or seeking his touch. He never got angry with her, though. He was the most patient Gelfling she had ever met. Not even her fathers would have handled her with as much care as he did.

She didn’t attend any more meetings regarding the war with the Skeksis. But she helped in her own way, making the smoke bombs they had used before and gathering the essential supplies for them in the forest. The plant life around her didn't immediately wither as soon as she came near it, which let hope spark in her as soon as she had noticed it.

Rian usually accompanied her. He probably had better things to do, but she wouldn’t miss the idle conversations with him for anything in the world, talking about their daily life, their families or joking around with each other. She hadn’t noticed that she was smiling again until Rian had suddenly stopped in his tracks and stared at her.  
“Do I have something on my face?” she asked, unsure of the sudden attention. Rian’s ears went back.

“Hm … yes, actually, you have.”

He stepped closer to her. Deet had to tilt her head back to look up to him. 

“What? What do I have on my face?” she asked, still in a good mood. They’d had great luck in finding the necessary ingredients for the bombs and she was full of energy to prepare them later that day.

Rian touched her cheek and smiled at her gently. Deet could feel a similar feeling pull the corners of her mouth up. She was-

“Oh.”

“Hm …” Rian’s thumb stroked down her cheek. He was so close to her. “So beautiful …”

Deet couldn’t help but blush. Surely he didn’t mean - but then he noticed that he was staring at her lips. With those hooded eyes, full of mirth and admiration, his ears bent slightly backwards.

She pulled away. Her cheeks felt warm while she twirled one of her braids between her fingers.

“Maybe we should go back, don’t you think? Otherwise it will be too dark when I’ll try to make the bombs and we wouldn’t want another incident like that one time, right?” She really shouldn’t have mentioned that because now she had to keep down her blush even more as she remembered that strange moment when she had thought for a second that he was going to kiss her.

Did he really want to? Was she just making that up? She’d had covered her hands up that one time, afraid of his reaction if he saw. But there was no reason to hide anymore. Her skin was still blemished with purple veins and her eyes had still not returned to their usual dark brown color. Rian didn’t care. He didn’t even flinch when their eyes met.

“Alright.” Rian nodded. “Let’s go back.”

Their way back to Stone-in-the-Wood was awkward at best. Neither of them was speaking while they traveled through the forest, following the well-trodden path. 

Deet was angry at herself. She could have - she should have - maybe he wouldn’t want to later, maybe she had missed one chance too many and he’d already lost interest. Maybe another look at her cursed face would bring him to his senses. She should have grabbed him by the ears and just kissed him.

Selfish. Any other Gelfling on Thra would be a better match for him than herself.

The Darkening inside her grew curious.

But Rian didn’t think so, right? He liked spending time with her. He kept touching her. He talked to her.

She had to get rid of those dark thoughts.

When they arrived at Stone-in-the-Wood, she unloaded the ingredients at her workbench and immediately began to mix them together. She had to be careful or else she would just blow herself up again. She really didn’t want to lose her eyesight even for a day.

After a few hours, it had finally grown too dark to keep working safely. She wiped her hands on a nearby towel and made her way to Rian’s home. The windows were bright beacons guiding her like a moth to a flame. Rian was home, probably cooking dinner for both of them. It almost felt like they were living together. Which they essentially did for the time being, but it felt like something which would never end. Another feeling surged up in Deet, one that she hadn’t felt in a long time.

When she opened the door, she felt herself smiling again. Rian was currently busy setting the table. The whole room smelled like the soup he had prepared over the fire, warm and salty. He hadn’t noticed her as he was still humming a tune under his breath. Deet stepped closer and hugged him from behind.

“Whoa - oh, Deet?” Rian gave a jump, but then apparently recognized her. Deet pressed herself against his back. Rian laid his hand above hers. “Are you alright?”

Deet didn’t answer him. She had been feeling confident. She had daydreamed that she would close the distance, maybe stand on her toes or pull Rian down by his ears and just kiss him. It had sounded easy in her head, but seeing him in person had let her confidence falter.

“Deet?” Now Rian loosened her hold on him and turned around. He was standing so close that their clothes were touching and she could see the greenish strands in his hair. ”What is it?”

“I, um,” she began. Her ears went back. “I wanted to …”

Rian stroked his hands from her shoulders down to her lower back.

“I wanted to …”

She closed her eyes. She just couldn’t do it, Rian surely thought that-

Suddenly, a touch on her lips. He was kissing her, his arms pulling her against him, his warmth radiating through their clothes. Heat surged through her, just for a moment.

Then he pulled back. Deet kept her eyes closed for a moment longer before blinking up at him.

“This is what you wanted?” he murmured, his eyes half closed. Deet nodded, barely moving, but it seemed to be enough. “Good. Because I want it, too.”

They met again. She hadn’t known that she could feel so close to someone and still hunger for more. His lips were slim, but soft, his hands strong from wielding a sword, his confidence seeping over into her.

When they finally halted, she rested her head against his chest and marveled in his hands trailing over her body. He seemed to be fascinated by her wings, stroking her where they sprouted out of her back.

“I think the soup is ruined now,” Rian said after a while. Deet laughed.

“I’m sorry.” She wasn’t sorry at all.

“Don’t be,” Rian said, even though he probably knew. When she glanced up to catch his smile, he gasped.

“What? Do I have … something on my face?” she asked with mirth in her voice. Rian loosened his hold of her to get something from the dresser.

“Indeed.” He pressed the thing into her hands. It was a small handheld mirror. “See for yourself.”

Deet held the mirror in her hands, unsure if she should risk a look at her reflection. She hadn’t done so in weeks. Why would Rian suddenly suggest such a thing?

There was only one way to find out.

She risked a glance in the mirror.

Her reflection looked back at her, but it wasn't what she had expected. Instead of purple veins marring her face and voidlike eyes, her face seemed nearly normal. A bit paler than usual, the remnants of the Darkening still hovering on the edges, but - she was nearly back to her old self.

She lowered the mirror and stared at Rian.

“I think … I think I’m feeling better again,” she said.

His answering smile lit up the night.


End file.
